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October 28, 1980. THE UBIQUITOUS PRIMAL DEFENSIVE MECHANISMS. Andrew Peto, M.D.
Dr. Peto postulated the following as the specific causal mechanism in depression or depressive affect: "The aggressive cathexes operating through the ego are directed from a very specific representation against another very specific representation. This representation is always part of the self or part of the object representation. Correspondingly, it is either only part of the ego aggressively functioning against another part of the ego, or it is only part of the superego aggressively functioning against part of the ego." In disagreement with Dr. Charles Brenner's view on the genesis of affects in general and depressive affect in particular, Dr. Peto suggested that depression can manifest itself before it is associated with a definite idea, provided the above mechanism is present. Dr. Peto prefers the term mechanism to the term conflict because he is referring to a time in life when the child's cognitive function does not distinguish between self and non-self. Four biological ontogenetic models form the basis of these theoretical considerations.
1Hoffer's hypothesis that the hand-mouth ego is the earliest integration of an archaic ego: Dr. Peto hypothesized that the frustrating aspects of the hand-mouth ego represent the basic pattern of depressive mechanisms and subsequent depressive